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Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Rinse FM Podcast - Slew Dem Mafia (28th May 2016)

You'll rarely ever see a DJ set / live radio session featured on these pages but the recent Slew Dem Mafia Rinse FM podcast takeover is nothing but pure microphone ultraviolence and therefore worth an exception from the norm. Kraze, Top Dolla and all the crew are srsly murking on this hardcore Grime spit fest. Huge!

It's been ten years since Gort Klüth and Klaus-Helene Ramp stepped on the scene with the debut album of their collaborational project Kein Zweiter , released via Column One's 90% Wasser imprint in 2006 and it took them quite a while to accomplish their sophomore longplay piece which is now out on the circuit in stamped whitelabel LP format which includes an additional art card as well as a stamped DVD-r featuring the stunning video for "Eine Richtung, Eine Saat" which has already been featured on these pages earlier this month. Blessed with the will to explore raw, free floating experimentalism that we missed since the Ingenious Dilettantes era as well as a feel for super digital, yet also distorted production techniques which are regularly found on more recent releases of labels like Raster Noton Kein Zweiter effortlessly combines these ostensible antagonisms to form a unique take on experimental Industrial Wave with a slightly sexual or at least seductively erotic overall connotation that surely - not only vocalwise - is influenced by legendary acts like DAF without attempting a simple emulation of well-working formulas, crosses over into dark'ish Rhythm Industrial realms in "Tanzlied" and even incorporates religious themes and overtones in the albums unsettling conclusion "Der Wagenmann". This defo is an album able to dispense daylight within a few bars - even in these bright summer days.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Soon to come on the always inspiring Strut imprint is "Ave Africa - The Kitoto Sound Of East Africa 1973 - 1976", a retrospective album covering the named musical era and output of Tanzania's well-famed, yet short lived band Sunburst which indeed did split up right at the point where the outfits debut album "Ave Africa" was released in 1976. But nonetheless, this one album is the legacy of this six piece outfit and it's a big one for sure. Influenced by Soul, Funk, Blues and original R'n'B of the 60s we see Sunburst emulate these styles in a very unique way, emphasizing the drum aspect of the music in weaving in traditional tribalisms as well as Calypso elements and call-and-response passages taken from or at least reminiscent of age-old African chants. Mixing these elements up with a hint of Psychedelia intrinsic to music of this era this is what makes "Ave Africa" an album worthwhile of being re-introduced to a broader public, especially for tunes like the fascinatingly touching slow jam "Ani Uni", the killer Psychedelic Funk of "Alhamdullilah" or the more uplifting multi-layered vocalist piece "Wakulu Wa Kuno". Furthermore CD2 of this journey into the African past musicwise caters a collection of ten 45rpm single tracks recorded for the Kenya-based Moto Moto label as well as for the government owned Tanzania Film Corporation / TFC which nicely showcases how the bands sound evolved and refined over the course of three years, as it features both raw and untamed bits like "Simba Anguruma", slightly Caribbean influenced, sometimes a little kitsch-covered pieces like "Kipato Sina", Afrobeat-reminiscing tunes like "Enzi Za Utumwami" or the highly seductive and well-sexy Soul Funk of "Vijana". But what makes this album a real go to for all Sunburst fans and lovers of African music in general are the last seven tunes on CD2 which are recordings of a radio session recorded at Radio Tanzania back in 1973, all of them previously unreleased, only heard on this station and unearthed from the bands scattered archives. Defo one to check out, this is.

I Have A Tribe - Beneath A Yellow Moon [Groenland Promo]

Just released a few days prior to this review on Herbert Grönemeyer's very own Groenland-imprint is "Beneath A Yellow Moon", the debut album of the Irish songwriter Patrick O'Laoghaire, better known under the musical alias I Have A Tribe. Following up to two singles put on the circuit in 2k15 the eleven songs on this longplay piece serve a very direct, spontaneous, yet intimate approach towards the well blurry genre widely recognized and referred to as Singer/Songwriter, come across as beautifully unpolished and raw, mainly relying on guitar, piano and - of course - vocals as main ingredients but still tends to gravitate towards a variety of styles. To go into further details the opener "Passage" is surely influenced by Blues with a slightly psychedelic edge, "La Neige" brings in heartfelt, widescreen drama and "After The Meet" is the kind of heartbroken Piano ballad one wants to immerse oneself in on a rainy sunday afternoon. With "Cold Fact" we get a great example of how simple yet amazing non-electronic Pop music can be, the "Battle Hardened Pacifist" starts out fragile but rises towards dramatic, climaxing moments and - for us - is the most spine-tingling and fascinating song on "Beneath A Yellow Moon" whilst "Casablanca"'s ruminant atmosphere reflects the thoughts of a broken man and "Buddy Holly" brings in a sweet and sanguine early morning feel for all those who need to feel that there's hope somewhere. With "Kamala" Mr. O'Laoghaire reflects about free floating artistic minds in his very own specific style, "Tango" deals with a well-broken relationship before "Scandinavia" goes down the alley of total fragility and intimacy and "Cuckoo" concludes the album with a sweet, acoustic campfire feel and a little funny studio-sequence at the very beginning of the song for all the hardcore geeks out there. Sweet one.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Jim Denley / Cor Fuhler - Truancy [Splitrec. 024 Promo]

Another release that came in from Australia recently is "Truancy", the 2014-released split album of Australia's Jim Denley and the Dutch musician Cor Fuhler which was recorded shortly after Mr. Fuhler moved to down under back in 2012. Together, the two artists created two long experimental tracks both exceeding the 17 minutes mark for this album which are based exclusively on prepared and therefore heavily reprocessed alto saxophone and acoustic piano - a combination of instruments that is not necessarily obvious or easily recognizable when listening to these tunes. Rather, one might feel these being closer to experimental modular synthesis / electroacoustics mixed up with high frequency sinewaves, short Field Recordings and only partly incorporating acoustic instruments with an improvisational approach as their tonality and allover feel are more often than not highly altered to an extent of irrecognizability. This said, and knowing about what kinda of instruments provide the source frequencies for this interesting, ever changing journey into sound, we hope that listeners from all over the globe have and still do appreciate the massive amount of work and sonic shortcuts that went into the creation of "Truancy" as this is defo a timeless, unique and fascinating piece of audio art that many readers of these pages might not have heard of before.

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Dr. NoiseM - The CDr A-B-C: K [Dr. NoiseM Tapes]

Released in mid-May 2k16 is "K", the next episode in Dr. NoiseM's ongoing album series "The CDr A-B-C" which brings us a new one track album per month over the course of 26 consecutive months. And with this new edition lurking evil takes over from the very first minute as we see deep and bad ass bass warps which sound like lost and slowed down remainders of the Virus era in Drum'n'Bass accompany the waves of fierce hissing and respiration that is, in a less threatening way, also used throughout other episodes of the series, but taken to another - and surely lightless - level here. And although calm and peaceful string arrangements are emerging from minute 9 onwards and are even layered by altered, reprocessed female voices which are evoking memories of more experimental compositions of bands like Eyeless In Gaza the overall feel of danger and tension is present, even when the harmonic, soft spoken elements seem to take over and become more present in the overall mix, causing the ambient'ish layers to have a soothing effect that still is nicely contrasted by what's going on in the sub regions of the sonic spectrum. So this might be described as Ambient for die-hard junglists, although there's no beat at all.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Suckas Boylan X Jana

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Cristian Vogel - Classics Remastered 1993 - 1998 [Sub Rosa 388]

Another blast from the electronic music past comes from the Belgium-based Sub Rosa-imprint who have recently released Cristian Vogel's "Classics Remastered 1993 - 1998" album, a completely crowdfunded project which includes a selection of 23 tunes from legendary releases like "Beginning To Understand", "Absolute Time", "All Music Has Come To An End", "Bodymapping", "Specific Momentific", "Busca Invisibles" and the "Conscious Arrays EP". These tracks, all of them remastered from original tape sources, perfectly showcase why his early productions were quickly picked up by labels like Mille Plateaux, Sativae, Mosquito, Force Inc. Music Works or Tresor as their prototypical Broken Techno-attitude was sth. new and fresh in these days and incorporated elements of Electro as well as deep melancholic strings like in the 1993-released "Machine", wonky bleeps like in "Beginning To Understand" or superfunctional dancefloor weapons like "Time" or "Absolute". With "What" we even see a proper dancefloor anthem unfold, tunes like "Absence Of Fear" weigh in quite a heavy bit of electroid sci-fi modulations, "Plastered Cracks" enables crowds to jump around and bang their heads without anything holding them back and Jamie Lidell's remix of "Don't Take More" brings back the original, distorted vibe of the rawest Chicago Basement tracks ever created whilst "You And I" fuses Intelligent Techno and subaquatic Electro vibes to a fascinating effect. And although we've never been huge fans of Cristian Vogel's special and unique sound aesthetics due to the fact that he never fully emphasized the sub-bass aspect of his productions which more than once were put in the drawer labelled as Wonky Techno but used to stay on the dry side of thing soundwise we cannot deny that he has left a large scale legacy musically, especially with his early works. So this compilation is essential for fans new or old not only for its enhanced sound quality but also for featuring a previously unreleased version of 1995s "Around".

Mondaine X Jamfransisco - You Say You Love Me

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

A. Dyjecinski - The Valley Of Yessiree [Sideways Saloon Promo]

After we've already introduced A. Dyjecinski's song "I'm The Woods" on these pages in late April we're now taking a closer look at his debut album entitled "The Valley Of Yessiree" which has been put on the circuit via Sideways Saloon only recently. Basically the result of failing to find full-on solitude as well as being an offspring of an unfulfilled attempt to maintain a totally remote lifestyle even in very off the beaten path areas of the world the album lives and breathes the longing for a natural, rural place to stay, represented by its calm, partly inward looking late summer feel and a very basic, down to earth approach towards what Rock music on the edge of Folk and Singer / Songwriter can sound like when an artist decides to handle and reel-to-reel record each and every instrument on an album all by himself, even though he might not be the most elaborate player on some of them. But sometimes - and this defo goes for this album as well - this kind of honesty and diy-attitude is the best and only way to create what can only be described as personal magic and intimacy that exactly depicts one's inner state of being, a unique mindset that possibly does not reinvent or revolutionize a genre but adds a few bits here and there falling together in a way that makes an album a beloved future companion, a musical friend and partner in crime for thoughtful - and maybe bourbon fueled - hours. Therefore recommended.

Sascha Müller [Supersix Records Extra 044]

Scheduled for May 26th, 2k16 is Sascha Müller's latest full length album effort on his very own Supersix Records Extra which is another eleven tracks journey into mostly 4/4-based underground electronic music. The highly detailed opening track "Welten" seems to fuse Minimal House and Intelligent Techno whilst bringing in slices of Dub, "Frequenzgang" caters super dry Tribalisms accompanied by elastic Acid lines for hard trippin' ecstasy before "Blist" serves this special kind of uptempo ClubTechno DJs like Steve Mason or Colin Dale would've loved in the mid-90s - precise, spaced out and uplifting stuff for the raving massive. Following up is "Cap", a tune in which positive, bubbling Acid modulations and metallic clangs take over, "Contrast" pleases the needs of every Chicago House lover with a raw, yet happy and slightly playful approach, "Das Muster" speeds up things for a reason and defo aims at energetic primetime crowds longing for their next ecstatic fix and so does "Der Bassläufer", introducing distortion big time and stimulating brain cells with tripping background flanges as well as aggressive, hard hitting hi-hat attacks before developing a kind of abstract Broken Techno attitude throughout the last 90 seconds. For "Diamonds & Pearls Part II" Sascha Müller creates brillant stab works on a stripped down ClubTechno foundation whilst "Electrotherapy" is on a darker, more psychotic Techno tip well fitting for illegal warehouse parties that surely are about to go crazy when the crystalline, Kraftwerk-reminiscing breakdown hits and "Flightrecorder" defines tribal'esque minimalisms over the course of exactly 500 seconds. Finally at the end of this album we're entering the "Future" through a psychedelic portal built of pounding drums and spiralling TechTrance vibes on which we're floating along strings and twists of the universal spacetime continuum. Sweet.

Monday, May 23, 2016

Jana Rush - Amateur Sex RMX

The Jazzfakers - Hallucinations [Alrealon Musique 064 Promo]

Forthcoming on the Alrealon Musique-imprint in late June 2k16 is the fourth full-length album by the NYC-based quartet The Jazzfakers which is not only entitled "Hallucinations" but is, maybe due to being inspired by Oliver Sack's book of the same name, quite a trip into unknown sonic - and well hallucinogenic - territories conducted by David Tamura, Raphael Zwyer, Robert L. Pepper and Matt Luczak to name all musicians involved. And one might only guess if the information that this album was recorded under the influence - a different substance for every member of the group to be more precise - might have played a role in the construction of this exceptional, yet outerworldly and completely unique album which links up more than a simple review could explain or even try to describe. Imagine improvisations and the ultimate essence of hypercomplex FreeJazz amalgamated with the most jamming, psychedelia-induced moments of The Doors, Frank Zappa or Jimi Hendrix, blended with amounts of chaos, Noize and 60s sci-fi sounds, accompanied by free floating, meandering rhythm signatures, interrupted and layered by most beautiful Jazz Noir or Bar Jazz moments which are mixed up with heavy, cut up feedback guitars to built the most confusing, yet captivating psephite-like mashup you might've come across - ever. A fascinating mixture of slightly overwhelming, ever changing sonic events that one simply cannot fully embrace throughout one, two or ten listening sessions and therefore provides a different experience whenever one has a go at it. And btw - unexperienced listeners might give up after a few minutes as well. We don't.

Friday, May 20, 2016

Jürgen Eckloff - Angeflantschte Fugenstücke [90% Wasser Promo]

Put on the circuit via the 90% Wasser imprint only recently is Jürgen Eckloff's latest longplay piece entitled "Angeflantschte Fugenstücke" which contains his 2004-recorded, 20 minutes spanning piece "Bei Wanzen Geld Zurück" as well as six shorter, and probably more recent, efforts. Starting out with the mentioned, extended piece we're thrown into an empty space made of concrete or even solid rock whilst being confronted with highly unappetizing and uncivilized slurping and smacking sounds which are quite hard to bear, especially if one has eaten shortly before listening to this piece. Alongside these animalistic soundscapes which are seemingly wandering through the stereo field we hear slamming doors and heavy stuff being moved, distant, metallic clonks and clanging and more quite intimidating sonic events which provide, taken out of context, reduced to and thrown back to their purest audible self without any hints of what might be happening, quite a hard and well psyched out listening experience. On the flipside it's especially the trilogy "Mörtel I - IV" that sticks out, the first trilogy that - at least according to the info sheet - is comprised of four parts. Sounds nonsensical but, somehow, makes perfect sense when listening to these four short bits of Field Recordings and Musique Concrete that, especially talking "Mörtel I" here, evoke memories of a non-talkative breakfast being recorded - including cracking egg shells! - but also incorporate heavy mechanical layers, squealing drones and hammer-on-rock scenarios, clanging metal, ripping cloth and more, providing a highly detailed feel for spatial conditions and multi-dimensional, re-arranged soundwaves that we all do hear but ignore throughout our daily musings. Thrilling.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Alte Sau - To Be As Livin' [Major Label 096 Promo]

Scheduled for release on June 3rd, 2k16 via Major Label is "To Be As Livin'", the sophomore album outing of Alte Sau which is yet another band project led by legendary Punk poet Jens Rachut, who is accompanied by Rebecca Oehms and Raoul Dore as well as a choir named Sibirische Falten which is - again - taking care of backing vocal duties. Stickin' to their approved foundation based on drums and vintage organs which provide a slightly Wave-orientated, dramatic and horror'esque feel - think here: The Munsters - the group's second output is, especially in comparison to their debut, on a deeper and more atmospheric tip musically, maybe even mellowed in their abstract social criticism and unfortunately not that intoxicating and awing as their same titled firstling although they'll surely please their most dedicated and die-hard fans throughout this 37 minutes journey. But no matter what, especially a well-absurd song like "Zackenbarsch" provides quality and so does the fast-paced, ecstatic "Maschinen" which is defo one to set your local Post Goth dancefloor on fire for a reason. And maybe it's just the often cited curse of a groups second album which comes into play here, particularly with bars and expectations raised mountain high like they were after Alte Sau's 2014's killer outing. This doesn't necessarily imply that "To Be As Livin'" isn't a proper album at all, it's just not that energetic and powerful as we hoped it would be.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

The great Amsterdam-based imprint Makkum Records is back on the circuit with another highly thrilling take on African music, especially of the music hailing from the North East regions of Ghana. This music, named Kologo after the two string instrument it's based on, was introduced to us via Prince Buju's fascinating album "We Are In The War" also released via Makkum Records, about a year ago and hasn't lost any of its inherent fascination ever since. With this highly recommendable compilation album which has been released on April 10th, 2k16 we see Makkum-mastermind Arnold De Boer document a fraction of the thriving Kologo scene of Bolgatanga, the capital of the countries North Eastern area, through a collection of ten tracks created, written and played by the likes of Ayuune Sule, Atimbili, Prince Buju, Asaa Naho, King Ayisoba - the only artist featured three times on here with the albums opening and closing song as well as a feature appearance - and many more which enable the listener to really distinguish how differently each individual artist approaches Kologo stylewise, putting his personal stamp on and interpretation to the music although they're starting from the same point, a plain dogma for this album that turns out to be sth. like 100% pure traditionalism with no computer-generated beats involved. But still, the outcome is varied - King Ayisoba's "Africa" is living by lively drums as well as call and response chants, Ayuune Sule "Who Knows Tomorrow" brings rhythmic, fast-paced Kologo play and a powerful, emotional voice whilst Prince Buju's "Afashee", taken from his 2015-released album, is introducing a raw, angry and feverish vibe. With Atimbila's "I Have Something To Say" we see a little uplifting, kinda caribbean vibe taking over leaning somewhat towards summery Pop and a bit of cheesiness, Atamina feat. King Ayisoba and their "African Problems" come across as a conscious, yet political tune addressing common knowledge in a subtle way before Amoru uses the instrument in a very sparse, partly even experimental way in "Yabaa" and might represent the leftfield, but not less intense spectrum of what this Ghanaan music is able to deliver in terms of diversity. With Barnasko's "Nsoh Yaaba" we meet a cliche of what many westerners might probably expect to be the music of African herdsmen as this tune feels like the sun's going down over a vast and wide savannah, Asaa Naho's "Home Witches" rely on call and response again before King Ayisoba's "Nerba" gets down to get dancefloors going for a reason. This is great stuff!

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

The great 'Anthology'-series on the highly acclaimed Sub Rosa-label makes a comeback in 2016 with a two CD strong, twenty-nine tracks spanning exploration of the Turkish experimental music scene of the past five decades - a scene that many might not be well aware of and which, to put a little bit of criticism first, might not be fully represented on here as, although the oldest track dates back to the year 1961 indeed with Bülent Arel's "Postlude From Music For A Sacred Service" with a subsequent gap of 35 years before Ilhan Mimaroglu's "Prelude No. 17 (Istanbul Fog)" continues the experimental tradition in 1996. This might be due to the countries musical history in which early pioneers where a few and the second wave of interest in exploring / crossing the boundaries of music emerged only post-2000 but still it would've been more satisfying to get a few more bits from the early days or what happened in between other than only one. But no matter what as a lot of the material to be found on this two hour plus album has been previously unreleased and unearthed from the archives there's plenty of thrilling stuff to be amazed by. Opening with the mentioned piece by Bülent Arel we're exposed to a trip into what - according to many early science fiction movies - the future sounds like with plenty of modular synthesis and computing, crystalline bleeps before Batuhan Bozkurt's 2012-composed "Kun" delivers highly digital, randomly structured Noize evoking memories of large moving objects and Alper Maral's "Sho" gravitates towards tripping Off-Ambient-structures - a triple of tracks that introduces the wide spectrum of CD1 that's dedicated to realms of experimental electronic music hailing from this area. Furthermore we see Cenk Ergün amalgamating harmonic droning and abused string instruments for "Forge", Erdem Helvacoglu's "Resonating Universes Part 1" provides a more ruminant and ritualistic feel before the tune drifts into more glitchy territories and Koray Tahiroglu delves into crackling Deep Listening spheres with his 2012 created piece "Iki El" which musically evolves from Clicks'n'Cuts to layers of shattering metal and tinkling, bell-like glass bits and back. Those loving Dark Ambient with an intense, futuristic twist will be highly pleased by Tolga Tüzün's "Uncomfortable Possibilities Of Seamless Unions" whilst Basar Ünder knows how to cater the needs of minimalists with "Driving" and so does Nilüfer Ormani with "Life In The Mist Of Finer Thoughts". Going into the second part of this album which is entitled "Politic, Samplers, Ambient Music" things are getting more concrete with the aggressive Noize pulse vs. reprocessed vocals of Utku Tavil's "SUTT" and the siren'esque wind instruments accompanying digital fluttering of Asaf Zeki Yüksel's "Democracy Lessons" which incorporates hints of the arab / turkish tonality in its use of harmonic structures and meandering time signatures alongside additional layers of Field Recordings and distortion followed by the alarming and well unsettling intensity of Osman Kaytazoglu's "The Monopoly Of Victim Status". With SIFIR (Z. Aracagök) and his amazingly catchy, yet twisted "I Want To Be A Suicide Bomber" we'll find a proper 2012 update of what might be filed under the flag of Industrial Pop Song, Cem Güney's "Procession A.D." walks the line between Field Recordings and Musique Concrete and the first minute of Mete Sezgin's "Subconscious Memories" bring back lovely glitches and harmonies referencing Oval's "Systemisch" era before digitally reprocessed pianos and melancholic Jazz fragments add up to what we'd describe as Electronique Noir for rainy days. Mors' "PerfYAy" draws its inspiration from a more traditional approach being a twanging, instrumental Desert Blues - a captivating fusion of Charalambides' "Unknown Spin" minus the vocals and Klaus Schulze's Ambient visions, D2GG's "3 Cakl Tas" serves repetetive piano romanticisms and digital Clicks'n'Cuts make a large scale return in Cevdet Erek's "Strob". But these are only a few of many more great pieces featured on this extremely recommendable album that is a must have for everyone that's into non dancefloor-focused electronic music. Get this!

Monday, May 16, 2016

RU DEAD 42 - Dead Field EP [Psychocandies 043 Promo]

A new artist is making his debut on the Psychocandies imprint these days with a four track single that's to be released as the labels cat.no. 043 on May 19th, 2016. Starting things with "Kreissägeblatt" we're entering a world of precise, yet distorted and filtered Rave stabs accompanied by decent 303 modulations, the "Park Ranger" comes across as a more lightweight and floating piece of electronic music that's kinda emulating ProtoTrance vibes ca. 1993 and slightly reminds us of L. Van L.'s classic tune "Oligophrenie" vibewise whilst the "Recovery Shelter" provides no cover at all but sets out to shred and destroy braincells with heavy distortion attacks and gooey 303 spirals. Finally the "Trance Inductor" provides more of a stripped down Chicago House approach in terms of its foundation whilst adding a layer of harmonic synth beauty and a heavy, mind blowing wall of sawtooth bass that seems like it has been ripped off a bad ass Speed Garage banger and slowed down to perfectly fit into this new musical context, building a killer tune that surely induces night ecstasy when hammered through a massive rig and therefore is to be regarded as this releases top tune. Check.

Prostitutes - Cheap Amplifiers

Friday, May 13, 2016

Erlend Apneseth Trio - Det Andre Rommet [Hubro Music Promo]

Released in late April, 2k16 via the Norwegian imprint Hubro Music is "Det Andre Rommet", the first ever album released by the Erlend Apneseth Trio. After we've already introduced the track "Under Isen" on another website in February it's time to take a closer look on the full body of work which consists of ten tracks spread out over approx. 40 minutes of total runtime. And after listening to the first few tracks of the longplay piece we're pretty convinced that our first impression gained from "Under Isen" are totally on point as "Det Andre Rommet" presents a rural, natural and overarching feel of deep, misty melancholia, a folksy, in parts even naively beautiful approach influenced by sad romanticisms one can only and exclusively experience in primeval forests - think of Wolfgang Voigt's GAS project vibewise but subtract every electronic aspect -, and see all of that happening mainly based on a foundation of classic fiddle play that seems to depict ancient sagas with all their wisdom, sadness, beauty and drama in a perfect manner and surprisingly even takes us out to a ritual, ecstatic dance with the captivating and outstanding tune "Magma" to be found on the second half of this amazing album. Highly recommended stuff!

Komora A - Waking Up

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Peter Farrar - Avocado [Splitrec 026 Promo]

Coming in from the Australian imprint Split Rec we've got Peter Farrar's latest album output entitled "Avocado" which is scheduled for release on May 15th, 2k16 and on which the Sydney-based artist is exploring the possibilities and options of the alto sax , overcoming the borders and boundaries of this long-established brass piece developing a very own and unique approach towards the instrument. Showcasing his alt. sax vision within four tunes featured on the longplay piece the opener "Light Green" introduces a percussive, stuttering technique kinda evoking memories of late 90s data transfer via modem or ecstatic mechanical processes accompanied by often disharmonic overtone layers whilst the 15 minute spanning title track slightly alters this approach by exploring oscillating off kilter tremolos and screeching rusty metal-on-metal FX to trigger a feel of ever lasting post-industrial wasteland induced longing and despair, a special post-societal sax blues if one likes to put it like that. Furthermore we'll find "Green Stripes" providing more isolationist, high frequency droning and tense, ever changing, fast modulating percussive pops with a slightly futuristic vibe which are slowly intertwined with what seems to be field recordings of unknown, yet surely sogging wet nature before the final piece named "White" digs deeper into squealing sax abuse and further inward-looking isolationism. Thrilling stuff, this is!

@c - Three-Body Problem [Cronica 111 Promo]

Another fresh one from the Portuguese Cronica imprint is "Three-Body Problem", the sixteenth - sic! - full-length album composed by @c which is based on the music the duo of Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais composed for the puppet theatre play "Agapornis" back in 2014. Whilst track "Transcendence 115" has already been introduced a few days ago we're now in for a full review of the entire, hour-long album piece on these pages. Derived from a commissioned production the pair of producers - with the help of several musicians contributing harp, trumpet, bell and vocal sounds amongst others on various bits and pieces - rolls out a sonic landscape of mostly mechanical, robotic and superincumbent nature that seems to rely on repeated actions, surface attrition, moving apparatuses and mostly, dark'ish, Drone-referencing electronics which, in its most psychotic moments, turns out to be the hell'ish soundtrack of threatening nightmares like in the fear-inducing, vocal-morphing "Sleep 114" whilst tunes like "Cage 116" or "Prophecy 117" provide and emulate the haunting, slightly unsettling feel of alien swamps for those appreciating Dark Ambient to the fullest before the full nine minutes of "118 Reduction / Reflection" come across in a kind of calm and folksy, Indietronic-influenced manner and the concluding "119 Collapse" even induces hints of harp-led romanticisms despite the sonic turmoil and uproar happening in the albums most extended bit. Defo a good one, this!

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Driftmachine - Colliding Contours [Umor Rex 088 Promo]

Put on the circuit via Umor Rex on May 6th, 2k16 is Driftmachine's newest musical outing entitled "Colliding Contours", an eight track, 45 minute longplay piece that defo provides a musical continuity when seen in context of its predecessing, 2014-released album "Nocturnes" whilst slightly gravitating towards a more benign, less artificial and more accessible feel. Led by the ever present Dub-references which play an essential role in the modular universe explored by the duo consisting of Andreas Gerth and Florian Zimmer we see arrangements less sparse and stripped down, with Deep Listening structures covered in layers of Ambient beauty ("Radiations") or gnarly synth signals in tunes like "Sans Soleil" or "Dogov Godov" . In "Observant Sirens" we're even taken to a surprisingly bubbly dancefloor as we see Driftmachine working on their very own, deep vision of Bass Music / Dubstep accompanied by intense modulations and fever'ish tribal drums that might be filed under the flag of MythStep for a reason whilst the follow up "Gaukelwerk" is, despite being well dancefloor-functional without a doubt, closer to a Dubstep variation once presented by Pole ca. ~scape 2008, than to the mystical uniqueness of Shackleton and his fellow companions. In "Lost Travelers" droney modular sequences are accompanied by a decent, yet broken 4/4 and exo-tribal drumming to a space-time dissolving effect, "Ambler" incorporates elements of classical DubTechno chordwise as well as sweet, floating melodic fragments and the final "Nunc Sans" takes a turn towards retrofuturistic Sci-Fi Ambient, sending out a series of twisted signals into the yet unexplored universe. This is what we'd call a progression in sound, although not all fans of the outstanding 2014 album might be on board here due to an evident lack of ultraminimalisms.

Gelbart - Spacetime Reverie

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Large Unit - Ana [PNL Records 033]

Another relatively fresh release from the Norwegian music circuit is "Ana", the latest musical outing by Large Unit put on the circuit via PNL Records, a label run by drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. With this album we see the group - a Large Unit indeed considering that it's formed by 11+ musicians - taking the listener on a well-demanding and defo uneasy tour de force into the lands of multi-percussive Free Jazz which is slightly influenced by Paal Nilssen-Love's love for Brazilian music but most of the times gravitates towards heavy experimentalism, layered crescendoes and even sequences of what seems to be pure Noize, created both by real instruments and electronic devices. Along these elements come sections of pure brass improv in first third of the the 28 minutes spanning main piece "Riofun" which offers the whole spectrum from calming sequences to elaborate chaos whilst the third and closing "Circle In The Round" comes across in a more playful, yet also more repetetive and Funk-induced manner that will be appealing, as well as the whole album, to die-hard FreeJazz fans and followers only.

Sunday, May 08, 2016

LGFN - Black Forest [Herbie Martin Music Promo]

Put on the circuit via Herbie Martin Music on April, 29th is "Black Forest", the newest musical outing of LGFN - or La Gateau Foret Noir if you wanna use the French long form of the bands name. With this longplay piece including a bunch of eleven songs and a total runtime of roughly 50 minutes the group, formed by and gathered around band leader Hans Ulrich Anderer, meanders through a world of what once would've been filed under the flag of Alternative- or Leftfield Pop musically, taking advantage of a classic band setup and transferring this well-familiar instrumentation to another level that is guided by more electronic influences, partly gravitating towards TripHop and Downtempo vibes or even incorporating agitated Drum'n'Bass-references in tunes like "Dog Pony Show". Along these adaptations of the mentioned styles by a classically trained group come elements usually found rather in Rock / Pop than in electronic music as there are rapid change of tempo or mood, vocal / bride / refrain-arrangements, showcase solos, funky sections and of course proper lyrics instead of samples whilst the aesthetics of the drum foundation have more of a live feel rather than relying on an electronically compressed punch. Taking this into consideration we do reckon that "Black Forest" might be more appealing to an audience that comes from the Pop / song-orientated side of the spectrum rather than being electronically schooled folks but this does by no means imply a lack of musical quality at all as the songs are executed to a maximum effect and from this we're taking an educated guess that experiencing LGFN live is a thing that one should defo go for if they're playing on stage somewhere around your local area. Watch out.

baze.djunkiii Charts 05/2016

03. Carl Oesterhelt / Johannes Enders - The Anatomy Of Melancholy [Disko B Promo]
As a regular reader of these pages or follower of baze.djunkiii's Youtube channel you should've already come across the latest album effort by German composer Carl Oesterhelt and Jazz-saxophonist in the past weeks. For those who haven't: Don't miss out on this great album effort that fuses a feel of Jimi Tenor's work, Indian-influences and especially tabla use, Jazz Noir and Future Jazz to a great and highly recommended journey into spaced out, beautiful melancholia inducing spheres of spine-thrilling quality listening music.

05. Inter Gritty - RISE 303 [RISE]
Raw, unprocessed Acid with a proper oldskool attitude anyone? This is exactly what this sweet little limited to 200 hand-numbered copies 7" brings us. Whilst the logo side fuses ever spiralling, lively 303 modulations with a more electroid attitude we see the flip or info side incorporate Electro-influenced snare works but generally rolling on a more traditional, yet broken Acid vibe. Good stuff!

07. Darq E Freaker - ADHD [Big Dada Recordings]
The EP title surely shows in the five tracks featured on the beautiful turquoise / blue 12" pressing recently released by the man known as Darq E Freaker - as well as in the highly chromatic, colourful artwork. Bass music somewhat in between Dubstep, hyperactive Trap and Instrumental Grime and loads of bleeping, multi-layered synth melodies fall together in a fascinating and well futuristic way on this sweet vinyl piece.

08. The Dwarfs Of East Agouza - Bes [Nawa Recordings 005 Promo]
See review for details...

09. Rhythmeditbox / Habbiteditkick [My Name Is My Name 001]
I guess we all remember that quirky little movie going by the name of 'Liquid Sky' that not only inspired a certain arts and music collective still active today but awed audiences through its highly psychedelic visual approach, aliens feeding off orgasms and drug-induced brainwave activities as well as a trippy soundtrack that took New Wave and the Ingenious Dilettantes movement to the very futuristic extreme. Two tracks from the original soundtrack are to be found on this defo unofficial 7" pressing, slightly altered, re-edited and re-arranged to a great effect.

Friday, May 06, 2016

Kai-Uwe Kohlschmidt - Den Himmel Malen [Major Label 097 Promo]

Set for release on May 30th, 2k16 via Major Label is "Den Himmel Malen", the new audio play created and produced by Kai-Uwe Kohlschmidt, musically known for his involvement in the band Sandow also releasing via Major Label, who has been responsible for most of the labels audio play work so far. Limited to 300 copies worldwide including the approx. 80 minutes audio play as well as a DVD Making-Of-documentary the piece itself works on two parallel tiers - one being the technical and production tier with all its difficulties and challenges that come with the dogma of an on-site recording approach, meaning that all scenes and cuts were recorded throughout a two weeks cruise on a sailing ship - location being implied by the storyline which happens to take place on a cruise as well - , without any studio recordings and with the actors being responsible for everything except navigation on board which introduces a special tension and bond between the folks involved whilst the second tier is the story itself which revolves around the exploration and investigation of the documents filed by the Stasi, the notorious secret police of the former GDR a.k.a. East Germany, about the fictitious painter Max Scharnegger. The story plot, in which Scharnegger, whose figure is inspired by the real painter Hans Scheuerecker, is confronted both with written documents and snitching activities of former comrades and lovers, is multi-layered and unveals surprising entanglements before Scharnegger finally meets his long-term patron who has played a quintessential, yet secret and undercover role throughout most of his artistic life.
With this audio play Major Label once again manages to approach a topic related to events in recent German, especially East German history in a fictional way that doesn't aim to explain, teach or indoctrinate but captures an imaginery snapshot, an episode that leaves room for the listeners own interpretations and reflections upon this specific period of time.

Thursday, May 05, 2016

Ran Slavin - Bittersweet Melodies [Cronica 109 Promo]

Put on the circuit only recently via the Portuguese Cronica-imprint is "Bittersweet Melodies", the most recent album effort by Ran Slavin who has released a string of numerous releases on labels like Earsay, Sub Rosa, Mille Plateaux and of course Cronica since the late 90s. With his eleventh longplay effort we see the artist, who's mainly at home in the field of video installation and film, delve deeper into the musical spectrum of Ambient, Electronica and Clicks'n'Cuts-influenced textures, serving fascinating loop cut-ups like the highly hypnotic "Category: Murdered Entertainers" which introduces scattered bits of Jazz Noir and a tense, gut-stimulating overall feel as well as filtered, off-tune pianos blown over from afar in combination with glitchy beat abstractions and ultradigital sound manipulations in tunes like "Disruptive Lounge". In "Fake Sunsets" cinematic and kitsch-loaden strings are clashing with dope beats and layers of tribal drums in an Illbient-reminiscing manner, "Dubai Dawn" fuses more sonic cinematography with chopped vocal bits and a little bit of balearic cheesiness, "Sad But True" sees piano loops meet waves of disortion, a steady heartbeat provided by low frequency pulses, alarming signals and a post-fall out atmosphere whilst "Sinatra Was Here" brings in what seem to be Spanish guitars and a tropical feel in contrast to off-kilter classical samples and digital skips, all combined and merged to be a well laid back yet unsettling variation of TripHop / Downbeat. More loops and surface crackles are to be found in the well dark'ish cut named "The Pineapple Assassin" which could be described as an abstract, slomo take on Minimal Techno / Armchair Techno, the "Collapsing Melody" introduces the vacillating, crackling and jarring unsteadiness of glitching, digital sound modification and manipulation in DAW Ambient and "Fast Moving Circumstances" are not that fast moving but exploring Armchair Techno realms in a decent, yet thrilling way. Finally "Deserted New Buildings" seems to be the most dancefloor friendly tune featured in this longplay piece, sporting mechanical, uncompromisingly marching drums and trippy loops in rewind for the Minimal House posse before the concluding track "Discreet Features" builds tension through a feel of immanent danger and fast-paced, slightly robotic sci-fi grooves built from clicks'n'crackles. Defo a good one, this.

Tuesday, May 03, 2016

Joasihno - Meshes [Alien Transistor Promo]

Scheduled for release on May 6th, 2k16 via Alien Transistor is "Meshes", the latest album effort of Joasihno which is following up to their 2013-released "A Lie" these days. And with a new album come some interesting changes in the outfits line-up - still headed by Cico Beck and Nico Sierig the band will be joined by automated musicians, or robots, on stage these days and those who're immediately referencing the retrofuturistic Kraftwerk as well as other Krautrock companions are not completely off target here as the musical vision presented by Joasihno in 2k16 defo evokes memories of glitzy, oscillating La Düsseldorf- and even Rheingold-moments, playful tunes like the "Wondrous Sibling" can surely be seen in a tradition of mid-90s Mouse On Mars, the steady sawtooth bass and scintillating cosmo synths of the "Bells Game" are made to enthrall advanced dancefloor crowds and "Temporary Parallel" sounds like a raw, unprocessed and highly improvised demo take from an interfering radiophonic workshop for Indietronics producers taking place in a parallel universe. Exploring new "Grounds" the band returns to a surprisingly fast-paced variation of Krautrock accompanied by bell-like oscillations and trancey, floating synth melodies, the title track turns out to be a calm and well laid back miniature piece whilst "EFOM" features a layer of classic chords and harmonies on top of ever changing and evolving, highly chromatic sonic spirals. With "Retoure" we meet a sweet and friendly, curiously and playfully teasing Advanced Instrumental Pop entity with a robotic soul, "Someday Square" is nothing but masterly arranged beauty and the final 446 seconds of "Veiled Bloom" are based on buzzing, scientific signals and neon-romantic melodic efforts emitted back to the future from a retrofuturistic sound lab. We need to see this live on stage - soon!

Sunday, May 01, 2016

I Have A Tribe - La Neige

"La Neige" is the first teaser for "Beneath A Yellow Moon", the new album of Patrick O'Laoghaire a.k.a. I Have A Tribe which is set for release via Groenland Records on May 27th, 2k16, and if we're not totally misguided by this song we're about to expect a great, yet intimate journey through heartfelt emotions and grand, surely broadway-worthy drama with this one.